All I've Never Said
by AxleBoost
Summary: Please enjoy my take on the wonderful art piece, written with permission from the creator, Artkos19 on RWBY Amino.


**All I've Never Said**

_Night came not from above, but from below._

Swaths of dark ooze poured in thick pools across the floor, painting the corridor in viscous sludge. Lifting a foot, Yang watched the substance pull at her boot with dark, stringy extensions that clung to her like glue. She grunted as she fought to get one leg free and backed away, sliding across a space the ooze still hadn't touched. The previously clean section of floor was tainted by her freed boot's messy black tread. Yang was pleased to see that the sludge didn't move, or stick to her again.

"Gross," she huffed, cleaning her boot against the floor.

"You said it," came the voice of Blake behind her.

Yang glanced over her shoulder to see her comrades standing a foot or so away, their bodies in wide battle stances, filling the far section of the corridor. They stared at the strange substance with uncertain expressions, and, in Weiss's case, upturned nostrils. The black puddle resumed creeping its way across the floor.

"Are you sure we were right to let Ruby go on ahead?" Weiss asked. Her voice cracked as the words left her mouth, shattering her confident facade. She squeezed the handle of Myrtenaster tighter than usual.

"Well, she wasn't exactly taking no for an answer," Blake added, moving to Yang's side to make room for the others.

Blake's long black hair shone under the eerily dim downlight, in perfect contrast to the dulled yellow of Yang's hair. Although usually golden-blond and free flowing, now her hair was tangled into matted, sweat-soaked clumps, and it had lost most of its sheen. This was a testament to the amount of fighting the group engaged in since arriving at Salem's castle. Yang took heavy breaths, realizing she should pace herself so she wouldn't run out of aura.

"Ruby can take care of herself until we catch up," Yang said. "Also, it seemed like she had a plan."

Her teammates nodded. Two men entered the corridor from a connecting area, one blond, the other dark-haired.

"Yang, girls, are you alright?" the blond said. Tiny beads of sweat dotted his forehead. "We cleared out all of the Grimm back there."

"We're fine, Dad."

Taiyang sighed, putting a hand to his chest in relief. "Good."

Uncle Qrow craned his neck, reaching to touch his niece on the shoulder. "You don't look fine, firecracker," he muttered, frowning down at her. "Are you sure you don't wanna rest?"

"No." Yang shook her head, disregarding her sore muscles. "Ruby needs us. You two cleared a path for us to get through." She waved a hand in the direction of her father and uncle. "If we don't use that window to back her up, it'll be a waste."

Turning toward the black pool of sludge that continued to close in on them, Yang raised both fists.

"Fair enough," Qrow said. He and Taiyang shared a look before following Yang's lead and getting into battle poses.

The dark liquid inched closer little by little, changing shape to curve around the group of huntsmen and huntresses rather than covering the entire floor. Everyone looked around in confusion.

"Eyes up, kids," Qrow warned, holding his weapon out at a vertical angle. His sword's metal glinted against the poor lighting from above.

Yang did her best to ignore the glare of Qrow's sword. She was so occupied with doing so, in fact, that she almost didn't notice a subtle motion at the edge of her visual field. Something had moved beneath the sludge.

"Did you all see that?" Yang asked. She looked back. Everyone else either nodded or grunted their confirmation.

Her comrades' unfortunate affirmation of the sight put Yang on high alert. She looked back at the thing coming from below. It bubbled to the surface, rose, and slowly took form. Its body was like a human's, but bigger. Bulbous. Somehow wrong.

The liquid began to slip away from the figure, leaving its solid form behind. Two others just like it emerged from the sludge. Yang knew its identity before even laying eyes on the grotesque thing's true form.

This was a Grimm.

"Beringel. 5 of them," Taiyang announced.

"What?! 5?" Yang asked as she and the other girls turned to find two more of the creatures on the opposite side of the group, more sludge pooling around their feet.

"She's trying to box us in," Weiss said, obviously referring Salem, who commanded the Grimm.

Yang glared. "Not if I can help it!"

The blonde huntress reared back, and with one building-quaking punch, smashed her fist into the skeletal plating of the Beringel standing at the center of the three. Her attack landed right between its eyes, cracking its dense armor with ease, and sent it flying backward into the next room. She followed, diving and rolling past the other two Grimm before sprinting ahead. Everyone else noisily engaged the rest of the enemies as Yang leapt toward the fallen Beringel, finding herself in an airy, dome-shaped space.

The creature growled and pushed itself upright, glaring at her as she stood tall, readying her next strike. It roared and pounced, tackling her with force that nearly toppled her. However, she dug her feet in, leaning to her heavier side, where her metal arm was taking the brunt of the impact. She looked down briefly, worried it might come loose. The Beringel must have picked up on her hesitation, because it immediately began adding pressure to overpower her. Yang reached inside of herself to draw on her remaining reserves of aura, lifted the monster up, and flung it skyward.

Wasting no time, she followed up with a shot from Ember Celica. The creature's neck snapped back in midair and it crashed to the floor. Breathing heavily, she bent down and gave it one more shot to the face. The Beringel died instantly, its particles scattering like dust in the wind.

Back in the corridor, Yang returned just in time to see an icy-blue sword cleave through two of the remaining Grimm. The giant, glowing blade faded away, and Yang came face to face with Weiss and Blake. Behind them, Qrow was slicing the head off of the last of the creatures.

"All done here," Blake said, reholstering Gambol Shroud via its steam-powered reel.

Yang took an unsteady breath as she eyed Blake's weapon, but quickly regained her composure. She still hadn't gotten used to the low hum its laser edge modification gave off. While this change wasn't new anymore by any means, it always made her feel that the weapon might fire by mistake. Blake seemed happy with the changes Ironwood made during its repair, though, so Yang put aside her concern. The humming stopped as half of the weapon clicked into place in its blade-shaped sheath. Weiss kept her rapier at the ready, walking lightly on her feet down the hall. Yang led the group into the next room.

"What now?" Yang asked, indicating multiple branching corridors.

Qrow looked at Taiyang and shrugged. "Which way do you think?"

Taiyang scratched his head. "Well, Qrow, how about you take that path, I'll take this one with Yang, and that leaves the last one for you two?" He pointed to Weiss and Blake.

"Alright," Blake said.

Qrow flitted his eyes toward Tai, brow furrowed. He must have felt offended about being sent off on his own, believing it was due to his semblance. Judging by their rocky relationship and past, Yang admitted he might not be wrong.

Weiss touched Yang on the shoulder, snapping her back into focus. "Be safe," she warned, sounding more scared than comforting.

Yang smiled back at her, trying to ease the tension. "You guys too."

A chilling laugh broke through their heartfelt moment, turning every head toward the source of the sound. Two dark figures sauntered into view from the shadows at the edge of the room. Light fell on them, revealing a lanky, tan individual with a well-groomed mustache, and another man with long, brown hair and a mechanical tail.

"You two," Qrow seethed.

The one with the tail snickered again, slinking closer to the group in a crouched position. "Greetings, enemies of her highness." His scorpion tail half-coiled. It seemed to move in accordance with his emotions.

"Let's handle this quickly," said the second man, who Yang knew as Watts, but had never spoken to before. "Shall we, Tyrian?"

"Get out of our way," Yang ordered, clenching her fists. Something in her stirred. Her heartbeat quickened.

"Actually, we'll have to decline. Salem has asked that we remove any...unwanted guests." Watts stepped closer to Tyrian as he spoke, eyes narrowed.

"Any last words?" Tyrian cooed, laughing again.

Taiyang and Qrow broke through to the front of the group and took battle stances. Yang tried to stop them, but her protests went unheeded.

Taiyang cracked his knuckles. "Yang, we'll take these two out! Go join Ruby." Yang figured he was trying to act sure of himself, but probably felt just as anxious as she did.

"But we should take them on together, Dad!"

Taiyang turned to her, his eyes moistened by tears. "No! I won't lose either of my daughters today. Understand?"

She tried to form a counterargument, but couldn't find the words. "Yeah, I understand."

The girls rushed past. Tyrian whipped around, wild-eyed, and struck. However, Qrow intercepted and spun his blade, changing it to scythe form mid-rotation and pinning the Faunus man's artificial tail to the stone floor.

"Thanks," Blake said.

The three of them continued on, each picking a hallway before splitting up. Yang chose the middle hallway; a wide, increasingly low visibility path that didn't seem to have an end. The farther she walked, the quieter it became. Eventually, she could hear the slightest shift in her movement, the rhythm of her own breathing, and even the subtlest stretching or folding of the leather on her outfit. A chill washed over Yang, and she wasn't sure whether it was due to the air circulation in Salem's lair, or just her imagination. The poor lighting in this section of the building did no favors for its creepy atmosphere. Sounds of her father and uncle battling Tyrian and Watts were drowned out by her own footsteps, whose echoes sounded almost deafening in the cavernous space.

Ages later, Yang's long walk came to an end. She could scarcely see in front of her anymore. The most she could make out were the dark, eroded edges of something solid. Something much taller and thinner than her. She felt its cool, surprisingly smooth stone surface, moving along its center toward the edge. Following its shape until she could make out what it was, Yang found a wedge embedded in its side. A door?

Curious, she tried to move it, and it shook. Something metallic, perhaps a latch, shifted noisily, convincing her that her guess was right. Still, the door didn't open.

Yang paused, remembering Ruby's determination as she strode into the darkness toward what most of her friends and family thought was certain death. Pure white light shone in front of her, almost like a guide. Even though Yang was afraid for her little sister at first, that angelic sight made her feel like, somehow, Ruby could hope to win today.

Shrugging off the distraction, Yang took heavy breaths, pumping herself up. There was no time to waste, because everyone was fighting for their lives right now. Ruby, and Qrow, Tai, Blake, and Weiss. She had no idea what was happening wherever Ren, Nora, and Jaune were. The last memory she had was of a horde of Grimm swarming them as they arrived in Salem's domain. Ruby promised to go back for them after the fight when the group got separated, but Yang worried there might not be anyone to go back for now.

Putting all of her emotion into a fist, she closed it tightly and prepared to bash in the doorway. Mid-stroke, Yang froze, blinded by a faint flicker from beyond the door that temporarily illuminated the hallway. Her lips curled into a weak smile. She'd done it! She'd found Ruby. She and Salem must have been battling just beyond this door.

Up above, Yang spotted air vents. The light died down, and a blanket of darkness took hold again. Then another flash seeped through cracks in the door, but only for an instant. Enough time for Yang to see something she dreaded. A dark, gooey liquid came pouring out of the air vents toward the floor. Everything went black as Yang came to a sudden, horrific realization.

Salem was flooding the place with Grimm-spawning sludge. She meant to stop them all here and now. She was out for blood.

Against her usual nature, Yang began to hyperventilate. She stepped back toward what she believed was the opposite direction of the door - it was hard to tell anymore - and stumbled. Slipping on the sludge, she hit the wall with a solid smack, then bounced off and regained her balance. It was far too dark now to tell which way was up. Low, haunting growls pierced the silence, reminding her that there was more to worry about than the doorway right now.

She heard one. Two. Three, then four. Yang quickly lost count of how many of the monsters she could hear emerging from the depths of the goo. Their collective rumbling growl nearly shook the walls. Yang lashed out wildly, punching in the direction of the noises, but none of her attacks did significant damage. At least, that was what she assumed based on the sounds of the connecting blows. She couldn't hit vital areas easily with such poor visibility. Shots from Ember Celica weren't all that effective either. What little light they afforded every split second revealed row upon row of Grimm, with several particularly large Ursa towering over her at the front of the procession. She activated her semblance, knowing she was out of options.

Flames burst outward, disorienting the Grimm, but only for a moment. The swarm resisted and encircled the young huntress, blotting out all surroundings. Even the brilliant light of Yang's transformation was only a candle now. One that was drowning in a sea of black.

Her arms and legs crunched and pounded against meaty walls of skin, hard skeletal plating, and who knew what else. Yang didn't care. She shouted in violent desperation, obliterating her unseen enemies with every bit of aura available.

Unfortunately, all candles go out. Her time came sooner than she expected. An Ursa grabbed her leg mid-kick, stopping her attack in its tracks. She tugged at the reserves of power within her, but the tank was empty. This was bad. Yang grunted and thrashed before the Ursa finally spun, flinging her sideways into the wall. The impact was brutally painful, as Yang took the full force of the damage with no aura to buffer the blow. Slick drops of what could only be blood fell from her throbbing forehead. She gasped, pulling herself up into a crawling position, only to be pressed into the ground by an unseen claw.

Seriously? After everything, was this going to be it for Yang Xiao Long, Taiyang of Team STRQ's Sunny Little Dragon? She laughed in spite of everything, in disbelief at how quickly the situation had turned. Her last thought before the Grimm converged on her pinned body was of Ruby. She loved her sister, and she hoped that at least she would make it out of this, and save the world from Salem. That way, all of their challenges and suffering leading up to this point might mean something.

"Goodbye, Ruby," she choked out, waiting for the end.

It never came.

A battle cry, a slice, and a red streak tore through the space around Yang. She felt the paw on top of her lift up, almost as if jerked away. All of the Grimm in her immediate vicinity toppled like dominoes, carved into nothing in mere seconds. Yang looked into the darkness where the one responsible resided, her breath shallow. Burning eyes stared back at her.

A maiden.

They closed, and sounds of a scuffle rang out. When the scene quieted down, Yang ventured closer on her hands and knees. She stopped when she heard more growling: Grimm, albeit in much fewer numbers. The room lit up, revealing a woman in a floral, black and red dress underneath armor. It wasn't possible, and yet here she stood. Yang knew the face of the woman who turned to gaze at her with a soft expression.

Something wasn't right. Her posture was all wrong. Bodies weren't meant to stand that way, to contort in such an unnatural position. Why was she standing like that?

Yang swallowed a lump in her throat.

"M-mom?"

Raven Branwen stood, sword drawn, pinning one large Grimm between the wall and her weapon. However, a Deathstalker's tail slithered back into the darkness, leaving less than pleasant evidence of its strike that just pierced Raven. Making matters worse, two Beowolves clung to her - one by its teeth, the other by its claws.

"Yang," Raven said, smiling through tears. "You must...live."

She swiped her sword through the air, creating a large dark vortex of black and red. She shut it a mere second later. The remaining cluster of Grimm were sucked in and immediately perished, their bodies unfortunate enough to have been halfway through either side of the portals. Raven collapsed next to her daughter, who looked on wide-eyed.

"Mom, what...you came?! But you told dad-"

"I know. I lied, Yang. I lied to Tai. I lied to myself. I lied to you."

Raven sputtered, only stopping when Yang lifted her head onto her lap. Her eyes peered up at the daughter she had put everything on the line for, glassy and barely focused.

"Stop talking, Mom. You'll make the wounds worse!"

"It's okay. I know it's too late for me. When I really think about it, it's been too late for me for a while now."

"Don't say that," Yang cried weakly, hanging her head. "Why would you sacrifice yourself to save me?" She angrily hit the wall, smearing it with a streak of red.

"Because of all of the things I've never said."

"What?"

"Listen, please, Yang. I don't have long."

Raven gave Yang a stare so determined, she must have stored up all of the life left in her for this moment. Realizing this, Yang nodded and let her speak.

"I know I yelled at Tai, and Qrow. I argued against you all going with Ruby to fight Salem. It's not just because I thought it was a suicide mission." She coughed, her tilted head nearly falling onto the hard floor if not for Yang's quick reflexes. "But I never told you that back at the vault in Haven, you were right about me. I was afraid. But not of Salem."

"Of what, then?" Yang asked, blood and tears running down her face as she looked into Raven's fiery eyes.

"I was afraid to lose you. I love you, little dragon."

Raven's hand squeezed Yang's, and then went limp, along with the rest of her body. In the aftermath, Yang sat stunned, unmoving, for several seconds before finally closing her mother's eyelids. She moved to a standing position, only to fall to her knees again and sob.

She let them come. Let her emotions flow out of her. Thin streams of hot tears cascaded down her face. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Numb aching gripped her throat, making movement nearly impossible. Yang let herself feel it all. Allowed everything that she'd held in for so long to explode out of her. Strangely, in the midst of her pain, something new flooded in, taking the place of what she lost.

Yang sucked in a deep breath, starved for air all of a sudden. The heat of her tears mixed together with another, unfamiliar warmth. Everything lit up around her, as if the room was never dark. She couldn't process it all fast enough, so she bent forward, clutching her chest as the energy current ran through her. The torrent of power settled and slowed to a drip, locked in a space inside herself. One that gave her strength like she'd never felt before. All else fell away. In that instant, Yang understood.

She was the Spring Maiden.


End file.
